So what are you going to buy your family of big-kid petrolheads and car nuts this Christmas?
Video games, a slot-car racing set or a DVD boxed collection of 2007 racing highlights are all very nice - but nothing quite beats the realthing: a race seat in the UK's closest and most competitively fought novice and newbie motor racing series.
"Yep, that's correct: a seat in a racing car for a single race weekend or a whole season, and it's a lot less costly that anybody might think,"said motor race team owner Phil Martindale, who runs Lancashire-based startracing.co.uk - the Martindale Motorsport Uniroyal Fun Cup team.
A double stint drive in a UK round of the Uniroyal Fun Cup endurance series - each race is four or five hours driving an Audi-based single-seater under a VW Beetle bodyshell - costs from around £1,250.
"That's around four hours behind the wheel of a race car each weekend:practice, qualifying and the race itself," said Phil.
"And before anybody starts wondering about race licences and qualifications and what have you - that's all included in the price. And they can stop worrying about coming across would-be Formula 1 stars sharing the grid too: the vast majority of drivers are complete novices or fairly new, and the cars are not crazily fast - it's all about driving skills and fun.
"We'll get them their race licence, their clothing, practice and qualifying and then a race seat at circuits like Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Donington Park, Croft and Oulton Park."
Phil can provide gift vouchers for a single race to a whole season:£1,250 buys a single race weekend; around £7,500 buys a whole season of double-stint driving for one person at each of six race weekends, including testing and hospitality.
Around £4,500 buys a car for an entire race weekend - that can mean four family members realising their Christmas dream. But the ultimate has to be the £30,000 voucher: an entire season's racing in their own liveried car. In each case, the price is the all-in cost.
Phil owns five cars that compete in the Uniroyal Fun Cup - a race series that provides cost-effective, close, exciting and, above all, good fun racing for all teams competing.
The cars are purpose-designed single-seaters with a strong tubular steel chassis, mildly modified super strong Audi/VW engines and gearboxes, race brakes and fully adjustable suspension wrapped in VW Beetle look-alike glass fibre body.
The races are all endurance, typically four and five hours in the UK, complete with pit stops and all the associated drama. Teams vary from two to six drivers in the UK and thanks to carefully designed rules, however many there are in a team the chance of success is exactly the same.
And with the car engines and gearboxes sealed and regulations strictly controlled, the racing is super-close and the running costs remarkably low.
"It's not Formula 1 speed or cost - but it is very similar to Formula 1 in format: practice, qualifying and race over the course of a weekend, usually two days but often three.
"Now, what's going to be the bigger business Christmas buzz? The video game - or the real thing?" said Phil.
